Phonsavan (Plain of Jars)

We hired a car for the 8-hour journey to Phonsavan and were very glad that we did. We were able to stop along the way and take pictures of the roadside villages. The winding mountainous journey was MUCH more comfortable and the kids could move around and actually got naps. We spent our Christmas day here and it was fun to be in a rustic cabin with "princess" mosquito nets over the beds (Emma and Xander went bonkers over this). We actually had pine trees and huge poinsettia plants in the natural landscaping of the grounds. We were the only ones staying at this guesthouse with several cabins.

Christmas morning we were happy to discover that Santa had found us and had stuffed our Christmas stockings! Emma told Santa a few weeks ago to leave our presents at our home. Xander got a Hot Wheels dirt bike, and Emma got Hello Kitty clips for her hair and her own package of gum among other things. This was the first year for us that Santa has been so exciting for our family! I think we saw what the "magic of Christmas" is through Emma's eyes. It was endearing and yet mom and dad had mixed feelings as we talked about Santa. Is there a middle ground of truth and fiction?

The rest of Christmas day we spent touring the sites of the Plain(s) of Jars. They date back to 2500 years ago and were mined from a distant mountain range, carved and hauled (maybe by elephants?) to rest upon the tops of hills. Why? Good question! We saw a couple figures of humans carved on a jar and a lid and many historians think that these jars were used as burial containers. The practice came from Southern China and they have found similar jars in Indonesia and India. Some jars weigh up to 2.5 tons and are 10 plus feet tall. There are about 65 jar sites to date, but only 4 are open to the public because of all the unexploded bombs dropped in this area during the Vietnamese War. We were lucky to visit 3 of the 4 sites each with dozens to hundreds of stone jars.

Ho Chi Minh cut a path into Laos during the war to get supplies and troops down into Southern Vietnam. In doing so, he broke the Geneva Peace Accords in bringing Laos into the war. In response, the CIA got involved in Laos, also in violation of the Geneva Accords, and tried to thwart HCM's efforts. In short, Laos became a victim of the war and was littered with bombs, including cluster bombs that have 300+ "bombies" inside of them and disburse in the air before landing and create a carpet bomb effect. The main problem Laos is facing is that 30% of the bombs did not explode and today hundreds of farmers, children and innocent people are killed or seriously wounded by the small bombies. They are colorful and children toss them around and play with them. Sometimes farmers strike one with a shovel while tilling the earth. Other times, people find them and try to harvest the gunpowder or the scrap metal inside. MAG "Mines Advisory Group" has become very active in Laos since 1994 and has been actively 'de-mining' and training Lao villagers and school children how to recognize and treat "unexploded ordinances." They are also training local Lao teams to professionally remove and handle the explosives. Because such a small percentage of Laos has been cleared from explosives, many are living in poverty and rich resources from the land are going untapped. Every path we walked on in the countryside was marked with red and white “MAG” markers indicating where it was safe to walk. Many Lao people lived in caves for 10 years during the destruction. It was sobering and interesting to learn of the history of these people.

We had Lao-style noodles and a rice dishes for our Christmas dinner. Although there weren’t many restaurants to choose from, this town has seen good things happen in the last few years. There are only 2 major paved roads in Laos (North to South, East to West). The road to Phonsavan is the East-West road and it was paved in 1998. In 2003 they got electricity all day (a big improvement from the earlier norm of 2-3 hours/day). All of our treks out to the different jar sites were on “dancing roads” as our tour guide called them. Basically they were roads where you go bouncing out of your seat every few seconds. He also advised us to use the bathroom at jar site #1 so that we wouldn’t have to use a “bomb crater toilet” at jar site #2. He was a kick.

It was interesting to see how people had used bombshells as pillars to construct houses, animal shelters and fences. Most people have used the scrap metal and have put it to good use: cooking pots, plough shares, tools, bowls, etc. We also visited an old Russian Tank that had parts of it that had been carted off ask scrap. The Plain(s) of Jars are clearly off the beaten path and it was worth seeing, however it took a lot of effort to get out there and back to civilization.

Vientiane to Vang Vieng

The guidebook says that you will either love Vang Vieng or hate it. It's basically a "pit stop" on the way to the more popular Luang Prabang, which is a 7-hour bus ride North. We explored rice paddy fields en route to nearby caves, took a 2 hour boat ride in a very narrow flat-bottom boat which precariously tipped from one side to another if your eyeballs even looked to the right or left (I'm being dramatic here, but it seemed that way at the time).

We found a yummy restaurant at a guesthouse off a dirt path and discovered a delicious Lao dish: mint, lemongrass, and minced chicken with chilies, which was divine! We rolled it in lettuce leaves and savored every bite. Emma fell in love with sticky rice and perfected the art of rolling it into a ball and making various shapes before popping it into her mouth.

The famous "karst mountain formations" here aren’t quite as majestic as the ones we've seen in Yang shuo (Guilin), China; or the ones close to Hanoi at Ha Long Bay. But, we enjoyed them and loved hiking around and getting close to nature. The view from our guest house was also amazing since we were so close to them and right on the river.

We turned in a couple kilos of laundry to be washed while we were here. During our boat ride, we saw many women out by the banks of the lovely brown river washing clothes. We realized (and I couldn't help but giggle several times) that our laundry was probably undergoing the same process before being hung out in the sun to dry. Sure enough, when we retrieved our laundry, it smelled like it had done just that.

There was a school across the street from our bungalow and after school some kids would ride home on their bikes, others would go join the adults in the community garden (that's what it looked like to us), and others would take their little plastic baskets down to the river to wash. It was a nice little community. We were situated close to the outskirts of the city, which was nice.

On our way to our next destination, we were able to get some great photos of village life.

Vacation in Laos

We spent 16 days in Laos over Christmas and New Years enjoying Christian's "use or loose" vacation time accrued over the past 8+ years with the government. We will be posting our trip in segments by city so as not to overwhelm our blog (or its meager readers).

Laos is on the verge of tourism explosion. We found plenty of tourists there because it is the dry season, therefore the high tourist season. All the things to see and do in Laos are very spread out, which entails a lot of travel on roads that are narrow, heavily traveled and under repair. It was interesting that our cars and busses often had to slow down and even stop for water buffalos, cows, chickens and even people who had meandered into the road.

We flew to Vientiane on an "Indiana Jones" type plane with propellers. Xander got a kick out of seeing them start up and whirr during our flight: "go round and round, plane go." The kid is fascinated and thrilled with anything mechanical that moves.

In Vientiane we saw the golden stupa, which is somewhat of a national symbol to the Lao people: its image is on their currency. We saw the Lao version of Arc de Triomphe, rode tuk tuks (the kids LOVED getting around in tuk tuks), and let the kids run around in a park with other Lao kids and families. Let me just say that the Lao really know how to give massages! My muscles are screaming for another massage right now! Seriously, it was on par with my wonderful massages in China.

We enjoyed The Morning Market and Jennie went "ga ga" over the silk textiles and Christian deliberated much about buying a HUGE, 24 lb. wooden elephant that eventually made its way back home with us to Hanoi. Above, Jennie is imitating the "peace or stop arguing" Buddha pose, which is unique to this area.

We saw beautiful temples, one of which survived the raids of the Thai warriors and is now the oldest temple in Laos. It had such a wonderful old feel to it.

We visited a Buddhist Park. Emma asked if she could play on the swings and we sadly told her that it was a different kind of "park." There were hundreds of gigantic statues of Buddhist and Hindu religions. One of the things that made it memorable for us was a group of Lao kids climbing on the statues and laughing. One guy had a flute that he played with his nostril and sometimes mouth (interesting). He played the whole time we were there and it was very nice. We didn't see him until the very end and gave him a little money for making our visit so nice.

Our last night in Laos was spent next to the Mekong River enjoying yummy curry and seafood. Emma calls the Mekong River the “magic” river after Christian explained that the flow of the Mekong inverts at different times of the year in Vietnam and through Cambodia causing a giant lake to form near Siem Riep Cambodia (home to Ankor Wat).

Trip to Hue, Hoi An and My Son

We took a trip to the middle of Vietnam a few weeks ago. We flew into Da Nang and enjoyed seeing the rainy South China Sea as we drove up the coast to the ancient city of Hue. It used to be the capital of Vietnam from 1802-1945 and 13 emperors of the Nguyen dynasty ruled from here. Emma and Alexander loved 'riding' all of the dragons they could find...and there were plenty in Hue! They all look so different too. Maybe each emperor had his own preference.

This was our first night in Hue...Happy Thanksgiving! They didn't have turkey and mashed potatoes on the menu, so we ate traditional Hue food, which is quite famous, and drank mango smoothies. Mom and dad learned the hard way that if the kids drink their smoothies first, they don't have any room left for dinner. It's just too tempting to wait for the food when there is a yummy drink in front of you. This restaurant was our favorite.

Jennie celebrated her birthday in Hue. We toured the ancient citadel, took good naps after lunch (a birthday wish come true), went on a Dragon Boat ride (Xander is still talking about Dragon Boats daily) and went to a traditional Water Puppet show. Emma exclaimed in her most excited way "Mom, this is just what I wanted to do for your birthday!" It was a happy day and I went out for a foot massage in the evening while Christian put the kids to bed. While I was away, some hotel workers knocked on the door and presented a birthday cake with "Marchant Jennie" written on it (just like my passport), flowers and a bottle of wine. Chrisitan kindly told them that we don't drink, but they left it anyway. Maybe the maid took it home when we checked out. It was very thoughtful of them and we took the cake to breakfast the next morning and shared it with all the hotel staff.

Below are a few pics of the citadel which we spent a half day exploring. The citadel complex was HUGE and many parts were in ruins. Christian commented that they were on the 100-year restoration plan. We enjoyed seeing both the restored and un-restored places.

Here is our Dragon Boat. I will post a movie of the water puppets later. The puppets were so entertaining. The kids loved it and even Christian and I left the performance thinking: "how did they do that maneuver with the girls lined up and twirling around each other?!?"

We took a day trip out visiting pagodas and tombs of past emperors. It was pretty cool. Our first stop was at a pagoda that had a monastery on the hill. There was such a peaceful feeling among the monks. They practiced calligraphy and one even climbed barefoot up a 100 year old star fruit tree to pull down a few fruits for us. We enjoyed speaking with the monks. Afterward we traveled on to see 3 other tombs and one other pagoda.

This emperor was into flair and the French style. It doesn't look that way from the outside, but the inside was all gold, flourish and extravagance on the inside.

This is one of my favorite shots of the kids. We hiked a million stairs to get to this tomb and Xander was cracking me up by the way he tried to copy Emma's pose for the camera. He was being so careful to get everything right. I'm surprised that I caught them both looking at me.

This was our last tomb for the day. We walked along a muddy trail with village mothers and children selling bananas fresh from the banana grove to the right. The kids were exhausted, but sooo thrilled to put on their rain ponchos. We walked on the wall surrounding the tomb to avoid the muddy path we were supposed to walk on. It was fun and a little slippery in places.

We took an awful bus ride to Hoi An. It's what most of the tourists do, but it was such a racket! It went so slow and stopped at places for us to buy things and it was just downright frustrating!!! This definitely made the top-10 list of our worst bus riding experiences.

Anyway, Hoi An is another ancient city dating back to the 1700s. It floods almost every year and was abandoned for a time. It was uninhabited during the Vietnam war and therefore was saved from destruction. It was neat to see some of the old canals, the famous covered bridge, temples and architecture, and even a traditional song and dance performance. We took a tour of an older house and saw lines drawn on the walls indicating water levels by year - one year it was flooded by 2+ meters! Merchants keep their goods downstairs during the dry season and then move it all upstairs during the wet season. We saw a picture of a man paddling a boat inside the main room of his house. I don't think I could handle that much moving and cleaning in my house every year.

On our last day we traveled to My Son to see some ancient 7th century Cham temples. There were 4-5 temple sites in the area and only 2 were still standing. The others were demolished with bombs, which is a pitty. Apparently some of these temples were used as a base of operations during the war and were therefore a target.

Emma and Alexander enjoyed playing 'house' and peek a boo with me inside this little temple structure on the left. They were laughing and playing and it was fun to see them having a good time while visiting a historic site.

Overall we had a very nice trip and felt like we got to see and do everything we wanted to, except play in the sand and dip our toes in the sea...which is what most people do when they travel to this area. I guess we have our beach-time on a slightly different priority level than most people.

Lots of things...

I've had so many things on my mind to blog about. My problem is finding time when the creative energies are flowing. Usually by the time I "have time" I'm ready for a nap or there is something else needing my attention.

1) Merry Christmas everyone! It seems like Christmas is so far away, but it's not. Sometimes it's hard to get the feel of the season when it's 60 degrees and sunny outside (this is Utah girl talking here). We will be gone over Christmas and New years, but we'll send out a "Happy Holidays letter" when we get back.

2) I just got off the phone and thought it was pretty amazing that I could be sitting here in Hanoi using our American phone (Vonage) to call next door to Laos to book a hotel for our upcoming trip. Isn't the internet amazing?!? Aside from the language barrier, the connection is good.

3) I made Christmas cookies to hand out to friends in Hanoi - stop drooling all of you on the other side of the globe who wish that you had a plate : ) As I was baking I really came to value precious resources - it sounds funny from a kitchen point of view, but that was my a-ha.

Cranberry-pistaccio biscotti, Truffle cookies, Mint brownies, Spice sugar cookies, Annee's chocolate chip cookies, Mrs. Field's cookies with a Marchant twist cookies, Gingerbread cookies with lebkuchen glaze. Is that all?!? I promise I was in the kitchen for DAYS!

Olive oil for the biscotti: I almost used the last of our olive oil from Italy (most people fill their suitcases with wine from their time spent in Italy, but we brought back bottles of olive oil). This bottle went from Italy to Prague to DC to Hanoi.

Butter: All butter is imported to Hanoi. French butter seems to be the least expensive, so that's what we buy. Before my baking fest, I went out shopping and spent 600,000 VND (36 USD) on butter, flour and eggs. The butter cost $4.50 USD per cup - crazy! Oh well, anything for keeping a tradition alive, right? I've discovered that I love to cook and bake for those I love and care about. I discovered this passion a few years ago, interesting huh?

Other resources I used up: almond extract, molasses, ground ginger, white chocolate chips. I guess I'll be stocking up on a few things when I return to the States in the spring.

3) I went to see Twilight. I went to the 10:00 a.m. showing on Wednesday. I thought I would be the only one in there, but to my surprise it was packed with every teen girl in Hanoi. My thought: aren't they supposed to be in school or working? All of them giggled when Edward made his entrance onto the big screen. I had just as much fun watching and hearing their responses to the film as I did watching the actual movie. I laughed out loud in some parts due to the cheese factor, and other parts I was impressed. My friend Natasha was disappointed that I went without her, so it looks like I will be going again when we get back from Laos. I think it would be fun to see it again with someone else who has read the books.

4) Admission of guilt...I need to blog about our last trip. It was fun and I just haven't put it together yet. I'll add that to the "to do" list before we fly out for Laos tomorrow afternoon : )

Christian and the Catholics

I don't plan on blogging a lot about my work at the Embassy, but I've been meaning to post something recently about all my interactions with the Catholics as of late. Since I've been in Hanoi, I've had a lot of exposure to the Catholic Church in my role as a political officer following human rights and religious freedom. In the past two weeks alone I've attended the installation of the new Auxiliary Bishop of Hanoi, met with the Archbishops of Hanoi and Hue, attended the trial of 8 Catholic parishioners in Hanoi and visited two dissident Catholic priests in Hue.

The installation ceremony was held 2 hours outside of Hanoi in the city of Nam Dinh. It was held outside in front of a large church there in order to accommodate the big crowd (about 7,000 people attended on a Friday morning - including a brass band and traditional Asian drummers). The ceremony lasted about two hours. Half of the Catholic Bishops from throughout the country attended the moving ceremony. Immediately afterwards, I was invited up to take my picture with Bishop Minh (above). I've had several meetings with him in his earlier role as head of the Catholic Seminary here in Hanoi and right hand man to the Archbishop of Hanoi. The Catholic Church in Vietnam has somewhere between 6 - 8 million adherents with 3 archdiocese in the country. I have now met two of the three archbishops and only need to meet the Cardinal in Saigon for a trifecta. Above (top) is a picture of me with the Archbishop of Hanoi.

Most recently, I also met with two dissident Catholic priests that have spent several years in jail for expressing their political opposition to the government. Above is a picture of myself and our Deputy Chief of Mission meeting with Father Loi and Father Giai at Father Loi's home in Hue. This picture has been zipping around the Vietnamese blogosphere which is amazingly active. What has kept me most busy since my arrival has been land disputes between the Catholic Church and the government. The disputes resulted in large-scale prayer vigils with thousands of Catholics participating. Eventually, eight Catholic parishioners were arrested for destroying public property and disturbing the public order. Attending the trial of the eight Catholic parishioners as a diplomatic observer was fascinating to say the least. My strangest experience of the trial had to be when as soon as I exited the courthouse the thousand or so Catholics that had been conducting a prayer vigil outside the courthouse erupted in applause for "Mr. America." I am frankly quite surprised that they knew who I am. For more background on the specifics of the trial, I recommend you read the following AP article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFaNWDuuQ4A1hcYeEtbf3GoGu5AwD94UG40G2